An Artificial God
by Suti Ookami
Summary: A four-thousand year old Shadow seeks reason for, and companionship in, his immortality. PG for mentions of suicide attempts.


An Artificial God  
  
By Suti Ookami  
  
(Shadow the Hedgehog and all related characters and names are copyrighted to Sonic Team and Sega. Sekaiba the Guardian is someone I made up on the spot, so I guess she's mine or something.)  
  
(This was made after having a conversation with my friend Sakebi about what Shadow would do later into his whole immortality thing. Who he would be, what sort of life he would live... and here is my answer to that.)  
  
----  
  
He watched the dawn break, like so many others. He had seen millions of them, and yet never failed to be drawn in by their beauty. He and the sun... he considered the sun to be his only true friend and companion in life, since all the others he tried to befriend had withered away and died. He could remember them all--the girl who enlightened him, the one who had helped him, his descendants...  
  
Shadow stood up upon from his place upon the apex of the tower. Thousands of years had passed since Maria's death, and all the others he had ever cared for as well. He visited their graves when they had still been recognizable, though the markers too eventually withered and faded. This city was long built atop the grave site, and visiting it was the closest he got to seeing the others again.  
  
The world was constantly withered and reborn, leaving Shadow untouched.  
  
The hedgehog was none too worse for the wear--some scarring showed through his fur, though one could really only see it if they stared long enough. Parts of his body had elongated fur, giving his elbows, jawbones, and the back of his legs an amusingly furry look. These days, his quills were slightly longer than they had once been. But his fur remained black, his eyes red, his heart still beating.  
  
The last of the old group that had died was Amy. He never particularly cared for her, but he had to finally let go of his old way of life the day her heart monitor ran flat. He remembered, vaguely, trying to take his own life upon Knuckles and Rouge's grave. His fingers idly traced the scar wound as he recalled that. He couldn't die, no matter how hard he tried...  
  
Shadow reveled in the morning wind. It was slightly salty, as the city was by the ocean. Station Square's ruins were in the water, somewhere... He held his arms out and allowed himself to fall the hundred stories of the building upon which he had rested. His landing, however, was as graceful as if he had just hopped off a short flight of stairs.   
  
The plus side of immortality was that one could really see where the species present were going. The animals were taller now, each species with its own minor refinements, and the humans had grown nearly hairless and much more slender. Shadow walked along alone, despite silently musing about the differences of then and now. Everyone regarded him with a great manner of awe and silence. The days in which he was Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultimate life form were long gone. Now, he was Shadow, the Guardian God. History books were marked over and over with his feats. The historians were pleased with the fact that they could simply interview Shadow if they were unsure on a certain point of history during which he had lived.   
  
His feet carried him to the pier, and onto a dock. Someone standing there watching him would be amazed at the aura of power and grace he seemed to give off. Though, he was highly distant today...  
  
In reality, he was just highly nostalgic, comparing the cities he new at the time of his creation to the cities of today. Modern ones were far cleaner, sleeker, and suited to the elements. Technology had back peddled a little, but the people did seem happier, at least. Space travel was a grand reality, and several planets had been colonized already. Shadow mused about which he would take to once the sun, his lasting companion, also faded away.  
  
Entropy... Shadow wondered what entropy would do to him. Would he die with the universe? Or would he be left alone, with nothing at all, anywhere? Such thoughts used to make him attempt to seek his death. Drowning, burning, shooting, disemboweling. Nothing worked. Instead, he turned the other direction--if he was to outlive the universe, he wanted to at least have a reason for it. He wanted to become, essentially, God. At least then he would have justification for making the stars seem short-lived.  
  
He seemed to be achieving it, slowly. Those who met him these days commented on his incredible wisdom and insight on the ways of the world. He wasn't completely infallible, but after a while, he began to recognize the patterns of civilization... at least the current one was less savage than the one he was born into. However, they still had their host of problems. That was what Shadow was for. But even in a life of helping others at every turn, he found himself incredibly lonely.  
  
The wind had carried Angel Island nearby, he noted, staring off into the distance. Calmly he went to the airfield and requested his plane, and calmly it was given to him. Planes at that time were terribly sleek and wonderful, and he had long learned how to fly one. The journey there was smooth, and his arrival was not unnoticed. Though the purity of the echidna race had died out, Knuckles and Rouge's family line had lived on. At this point, however, the guardian was an animal of indeterminable species, crossbred and watered down, but still there was some hint of echidna on her. She did have a wolf tail, however, which alluded to her recent ancestry. The family had a habit of breeding until something resembling an echidna came out, and at that point was raised to be the guardian. Shadow found it all quite silly, but never mentioned it.  
  
"Good day, Shadow!" she hailed from the second floor of the building that the Master Emerald shrine was now kept safely in.  
  
"Hello, Sekaiba!" Shadow called as he walked inside. The building was like a museum to the ancient tribes from which the Master Emerald and Angel Island originated. It was very popular whenever it came near the mainland, but since it was still over the ocean, it was all but empty... except, of course, for Sekaiba the Guardian, who leaned over the second story railing in greeting to Shadow. She was very young still, though old enough that her parents had moved off of the island and onto the mainland somewhere. Her smile was very cheerful and bright.   
  
"Have you come to keep me company for a while, Shadow?"  
  
"Yes. Things are quiet upon the mainland," Shadow said, "So I am not needed for the time being. Is there anything interesting going on?"  
  
"Nothing too much, actually." She hopped the railings and glided down in a slow circle before landing softly. "Waiting for the wave of North continental tourists to arrive. And since you're here, they can't be too far off."  
  
"Aah," Shadow replied. Even after all this time, he wasn't that great at mild humor. He walked up the shrine, the steps of which had long ago been replaced and restored into a mock of the original, and sat upon the Master Emerald. Sekaiba joined him and kicked her feet off the side.  
  
"Tell me another story about my ancestors? Please?" She asked. Her manner was very childlike, leaving Shadow unable to avoid indulging her.  
  
"Ah. Alright. The first of your ancestors I knew were Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat. They didn't get along very well at all, at first. In fact, they outright hated each other. Rouge was a treasure hunter, and tried to steal the Master Emerald. Knuckles had been abandoned on the island and left alone, so his people skills were quite sour and disallowed him from really getting close to others without a great deal of difficulty." Shadow shifted a bit before he continued, "But after Rouge gave up treasure hunting, Knuckles seemed a bit less opposed to her. They grew attached and fond of one another, and eventually produced a child.   
  
"This child, after hearing of what her father had gone through, helped her parents establish the new tradition of Guardianship--the parents remain with the child until they have reached maturity, and then leave, their time as guardians through. Of course, it was hard for a lot of the guardians to get others, and it was traditional that only someone resembling an echidna could do it.   
  
"I do believe, however, that you have a very echidna-esque hedgehog in your blood, however. I remember one of your more recent ancestors having an affair with a hedgehog, and producing something convincingly echidnaish." Shadow chuckled fondly. He was very close to the guardian line, after all. Sekaiba listened with a faint smile on her face.  
  
"You've told me this before, I think."  
  
"Have I? I apologize. I always forget who I have told..."  
  
"No, no, it's okay!" Sekaiba said, holding her hands out. They had the family's trademark knuckles on them. "But tell me... what were Knuckles and Rouge like?"  
  
"As I said, Knuckles was not a very good people person. Of course, neither was I. It was a miracle that he and I befriended one another, though it was mostly at Sonic the Hedgehog's urging. Ah, Sonic was-"  
  
"No, I know already. Go on."  
  
"Thank you. He was very stubborn and utterly dense about everything, though he had a very good heart when he stopped thinking about things with his fists. Rouge was very slow to trusting others, usually acting tough as a front. She grudgingly allowed Knuckles into her heart, once he realized what it was he felt for her. She didn't like admitting to needing him very much, but eventually did."  
  
Sekaiba chuckled and ran a finger absently along the Master Emerald. "You've seen a lot, then, huh?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"And you're going to see even more?"  
  
"Yes, I will."  
  
Sekaiba nodded. "I've thought about death lately and have been rather afraid... I sorta wish I could be like you."  
  
"No, you don't," Shadow said. "You might fancy immortality now, since it is beyond your grasp, but having it causes one to crave mortality more than anything. I have tried to take my life many times, but each I have obviously failed. It's a very lonely life, and even eventually the sun dies..."  
  
The black-furred girl nodded slowly and stared down. Shadow gave her a fond pat on the back, and then rose, forcing a smile.  
  
"I shall be back later. I would like to go and sample some of the fruits that are ripe on the island right now, if that's okay."  
  
"Ah, sure!" Sekaiba said, perking up. "Go ahead."  
  
Shadow nodded and walked outside, smiling fondly at his great-great-granddaughter. She smiled back, her ruby eyes dancing with happiness. The longevity of the line had increased since his meddling. Perhaps now his loneliness could be tapered, at least for a little longer. Here and now, he had an adoring grandchild, and that was good enough for him.  
  
And that day he plucked and ate the four-thousand-year-old descendants of apples with a lighter heart than he'd had in ages. 


End file.
